I Wasn't on Some Campaign to Change the World, I Was a Drummer in A
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Contents Masthead The Off 07 Loic maurin Apesanteur [ZERO GRAVITY] 17 The Sum Of The Parts John Maher 28 Dropping Names Don Lombardi 35 Maximum Break Richard Colburn 44 Retirement Bill Bruford 49 Out On A Limb CONTENTS A conversation with Eddie Prevost Issue One, December 2012 57 Rhythm As A Medium Ben Martin 62 Tatsuya Amano クロスフェイス [CROSSFAITH] Subscriptions/Newsletter Editor: Tom Hoare [email protected] Art Director: Luke Douglas [email protected] Web Editor: Andrew Jones Contributors: Ben Martin, Iain Bellamy, Kate Darracott, Flora Hodson, Elspeth Leadbetter, John Maher, Julia Kaye, Jim Bevington Thanks: Tim Wilson, Rew Kubayashi, Ryan Richards, BGM Rhythms, John Williamson, James Walker, Greg & Julia, Alex Sayles, Crystalline Connolley, Papillon Zamprioli, Needham Avenue, Glen Thomson Contact: Editorial: [email protected] Advertising: [email protected] Cover: A preoccupation with time. Reading note: We’ve made this magazine to be readable online, without the need to zoom and MASTHEAD scroll. It looks best when viewed in full screen. Issue One, December 2012 www Copyright © The Drummer’s Journal 2012 The proprietors and contributors to The Drummer’s Journal have asserted their right under the Copyright Designs and Patens Act 1988 to be identified as the owners and authors of this work. THE OFF www welve months ago, the brief conversation which sowed the seeds for The Drummer’s Journal occurred. It was between a good friend and myself. Having dredged out an assorted collection of drum magazines from under my bed, he selected a copy and Tread it cover to cover. He then picked up another and did the same. After a prolonged period of silence he looked up and asked “How many drummers do you think there are in the world?” “I don’t know.” I replied. “Hundreds of thousands probably.” “So why do these magazines make it look like there are only 10?” He was right. One issue after another - all akin, all unwavering. I couldn’t respond. I felt embarrassed on behalf of drummers everywhere. I hastily shovelled them back under my bed like they were seedy pornography. The following day I sat down and thought about why I like playing the drum set. I concluded that it’s expressive. It allows for exploration, investigation and inquiry. It can inform and articulate. It can challenge, create, and discover. It can fuel debate. It is divergent and disparate. It is unique. And so this is exactly what we wanted the magazine to be. All the things, as drummers, we like about what we do. There are no reviews, buying guides or product tests. The web is already awash with plenty. Instead, there are only people and their opinions and insights as to how and why this instrument shapes their lives. Independent. Online. Free. Welcome to Volume One, Issue One of The Drummer’s Journal. LOIC MAURIN Apesanteur [Zero Gravity] Words by Tom Hoare, photography by Luke Douglas • In 1965 France became the third country in the world to launch a satellite into space • It has its own national space program called CNES • It contributes the most money to the European Space Agency • France own a 28 per cent stake in the International Space Station www t is safe to say that the French take space exploration very seriously. This is just as well, because for Loïc Maurin and the band in which he plays, the last few Iyears have been positively stratospheric – though not in the literal sense. The release of M83’s sixth studio album Hurry Up We’re Dreaming made some of the most obnoxious and borderline fascist music critics roll over to let M83 rub their bellies. Its anthemic, electronic styling was lauded as an album of the decade, never to be bettered. Not exactly a throwaway statement given that the decade in question still has four fifths of its 10 years remaining. I met Loïc in a small cafe in Paris’ third district. It’s a typical Parisian scene; the tables sprawl out onto the pavement encircled by people chatting, smoking and drinking. An awning hovers overhead. Unable to spot Loïc and thinking I was slightly early, I eventually found him sat inside at a table partially obscured by an indentation of the café wall. A trivial observation perhaps, but apart from a few Zildjian promo videos, Loïc had been a hard man to research. Most M83 related media has been squarely focused, quite unsurprisingly, on the band’s founder and songwriter Anthony Gonzalez. Yet, Loïc has not been left behind in the metaphorical lunar orbiter whilst Anthony takes the giant leap. Despite a deceptively low profile, his playing speaks volumes. 09 Loïc Maurin: So, have you guys enjoyed Paris so far? The Drummer’s Journal: It’s been great… Have you always lived here? Yeah, I grew up in the suburbs about 30 miles south of here. It’s really suburban. I moved to the centre about seven years ago. How did you start to develop an interest in music? It was before school. My mum used to tell me that I really loved to hit stuff… Were you a violent child? (Laughs) Yeah I guess! I had this toy drum set and it couldn’t have made me happier. I suppose then, I actually started drumming when I was around three. That’s quite early! It is! Maybe it was just because I was surrounded by the music from the radio. Just really mainstream music. Mainstream British music? Mostly. But the radio played lots of American music too. Obviously we have our mainstream French music as well, but I think it might be even more boring than British mainstream music. I’m proud of that! So from there I guess you got a kit. Did you learn yourself, or was it more formal? Once I reached the legal age to take drum lessons my mum took me to this drum teacher. I was eight I think. I learnt a lot of rock and a lot of 80s music too because it was 1988. I loved to play along with Wet Wet Wet, Pink Floyd, Status Quo, and stuff like that. Boney M too. I don’t know a lot about the French music scene… You’re not missing out (laughs). Everyone seems to say that! Is that really true though? Well, we have a couple of really great artists, well, more than that. Maybe five or six. But they are the only ones I am proud of. That’s just my opinion of course. THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL www “I tried to teach too. That didn’t go very well. I was a huge failure. I hated it. And I could tell the students hated it. But I definitely hated it more.” www 11 I think, in all fairness, the French have a good reputation for a Sorry, it was a joke. A bad one. Your English is at least as good lot of electronic music. as mine. Well, yeah I suppose. That started back in the 1970s with Jean Oh, well, thanks. So, I learnt mostly from listening to English Michel Jarre, who was more of a composer. Then we have this big records and watching American TV. gap of emptiness until Daft Punk and Felix show up. Why that is beats me. We don’t have many French records to listen to, or much French TV. Did you study music at school? (Laughs) Well, maybe I can give you a few! No. It’s not in the French culture to inject a lot of music into scholarship. It is definitely more of a British or American way to do Did you enjoy school then? things. It doesn’t really happen in France at all. Not really. I had a lot of friends but gradually people leave or move away. I found that, for me, school was only about meeting people. Why do you think that is? I hated listening to teachers. The last years of my scholarship were That’s a good question. I don’t know. Our culture is more into really boring. physics, mathematics and languages. When it comes to the Arts we stick to the basics. So, were you trying to become a drummer? Yeah. This will sound pretentious, but even though I only became a I was thinking about this before actually. A friend of mine professional drummer a few years ago, I have always played drums speaks French very well because he enjoyed it at school and then and never considered doing anything else. lived in Lille for a few years. I took the same lessons but I was always terrible. I think my experience of languages is similar to When you left school, how long was it from then until you that of the majority of people in the UK. Our grasp of foreign joined M83? languages isn’t great, where as in France it is. Lots of young Maybe four years. I was supposed to go to university, but I was people in France can speak English fluently. missing classes because I was not into it at all. Instead, I tried to I would say that the French are known for having the worst English find small gigs and I tried to teach too. That didn’t go very well. I in the world, considering we’re so close! But, when you compare was a huge failure. I hated it. And I could tell the students hated the average French person’s English to someone from Scandinavia, it. But I definitely hated it more. And they could tell I had no idea for example, there is a huge difference.